Members of the Brownsville Fire Department are helping protect future firefighters from cancer by participating in a study that pinpoints the chemicals in fires that could cause cancer.

The cancer research study is spearheaded by the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health.

"This study is going to be amazing in how we view our jobs,” Brownsville Fire Chief Jarrett Sheldon said. “We know our firefighters respond to dangerous fires and the risk that they're exposed to at every fire can be dangerous. What we don't know is the long term effects."

Sheldon said researches will also look at how cancers develop over the course of the careers of firefighters.

To do this, researchers will take biological samples to see the types of chemicals firefighters come into contact with.    

Researchers hope the study will help with early detection, and create strategies to protect firefighters 

“The research is really gonna tell when we go to those fires what exactly are we being exposed to and what is it doing to our bodies long term,” Sheldon said. “It may be the smoke itself, it may be the heat."

Sheldon said the university will sample around 50 current Brownsville firefighters over the course of two years.

In an email, the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health told Channel 5 News that by studying a firefighter's work environment, they'll find evidence that can help implement better policies to keep firefighters safer and lower the rate of cancer. 

The school was awarded $5 million to conduct this study by the Texas Legislature. Fire departments from the cities of Houston, Austin, El Paso, San Antonio and Dallas are also participating in the study.

In a news release, UT Health Houston said that between 2019 and 2023, the number of firefighters in Texas that were diagnosed with cancer increased nearly five times from 19 cases to 91, according to the Texas Commission on Fire Protection’s annual report.

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